Two hours to prepare the pans (lining with parchement), mix the dry and wet ingredients, add dry to the fruit and mix well, add wet to the whole thing and mix again using a very strong long handled spoon/spatula/whatever you have including hands! I put my lobster pot in one of my kitchen sinks so I can reach inside it easily. I kept licking, then washing, my right hand as I mixed the fruit and batter.
I have 9 two pound loaf pans and 5 small pans now in a 325° oven and it already smells divine!
The small loaves will cook in about an hour/hour and a half; the larger loaves will likely take between 2 and 2 1/2 hours. I’ve set the time on my watch and will keep checking the oven to make sure all is well there.
Because the cakes are all packed in tightly, it takes longer for them to bake – the great thing is this concoction is very forgiving and because I want it baked but moist, slightly underbaking them isn’t a bad thing. I’ll take the cakes from the oven when a wood skewer comes out clean.
I’ll add a photo when I’ve taken the cakes from the oven and put them on racks to cool. It’s a wonderful site. One Christmas thing checked off my list.
I started this jacket when I thought jacket #2 was a flop and hadn’t yet worn it. I bought this silk patchwork kantha bedspread on Amazon intending to toss the second one and make another from the bedspread.
This time I kept the back straight (taking out the fullness I’d put into Jacket #2). I did leave some fullness in the front – turns out to have been good decisions.
Kantha Jacket #3
I worked from the more “blue” end of the bedspread using the fabric as efficiently as possible – two fronts, one back, two sleeves, two cuffs, a collar, and two pocket backings (on the inside behind the pocket welts). I still have enough fabric leftover to make a second jacket!
I used very soft leftover kid leather pieces to construct the welts for the pockets. I also used leather on the inside of the collar. I debated about making leather welt buttonholes but I wanted vertical buttonholes so decided, instead, to machine stitch them. The “pocket” is formed by binding and stitching a rectangular piece behind the welt opening.
You can’t see the seams but every seam has been bound using a dark blue batik fabric. I used that fabric for the front facings. I also used a rather heavy weight interfacing on the front edge just slightly narrower than the facing so it doesn’t show but it gives a firm body to the front edge.
I’m happy with the colour arrangement both on the front and back.
Kantha Jacket #3 – Back
The construction of the bedspread is much better than the Marcie Tilton kantha fabric I used in Jacket #2. The piecing is straight, the quilt stitching is closer and for the most part straight (although there were spots where the stitching was a bit odd but I was able to avoid them). The cotton backing fabric shrank somewhat with washing giving a puffy texture to the silk top but that has pressed out to a large extent.
I’m very happy with the final result. Total working time – maybe 6 hours (spread over 2 days).
Now I’ve got to get going on the Christmas cakes! I’ve assembled all the ingredients, the butter has been sitting out over night, everything is ready to go. First, turn on the oven to 320°F, second get out my lobster pot and wipe it clean. Then weigh the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, mix the wet ingredients in my largest bowl. Put them together, carefully spoon the batter into parchment lined loaf pans (just 3/4 full!) and let them bake for a couple of hours.
jmn 